From relegation difficulties to the third place in the Premier League, looking back at the 12 months of Newcastle’s transformation

In the past 12 months, Newcastle’s performance is almost unbelievable.

This team not only made a dramatic "recovery" in the second half of the 2021/2022 season and was able to successfully stay in the Premier League, but also entered 2023 by temporarily ranking third in the league.
Moreover, Eddie Howe’s team has achieved 21 wins, 8 draws and 6 losses in 35 Premier League games in 2022-this makes them also ranked in the top four in the 2022 natural year Premier League standings.
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Here, The Athletic authors Chris Waugh and George Caulkin review Newcastle’s extraordinary 12 months in 2022.

January: Shelvey wins Newcastle away to Leeds United

Eddie Howe told Alan Shearer in September: "It looks weird now, but we didn’t know how important that game against Leeds was. Looking back now, I would say:’
Well, this was our turning point. It was a game that got us going.’”

Newcastle’s 1-0 win over Leeds United at Elland Road on January 22 will certainly be one of their most interesting games of 2022, and possibly their most important.
The players believed in Eddie Howe’s tactics and his control of the details of the game, but as he said: "You need the end result. The longer you can’t do it for a long time, the more difficult it will be."

Eddie Howe is the soul of Newcastle’s success

Would the next thing have happened without the win against Leeds United?

With Trippier and Chris Wood already signed, Shelvey’s free-kick gave Newcastle their second win of the season – their last game before heading to Saudi Arabia for the winter break.
Although they are still ranked 18th in the league, this has given the team enough positive momentum. When the team has three more players arriving before the winter transfer window closes, people suddenly believe that Newcastle really has the possibility of relegation.

February: Trippier’s free-kick against Everton

As the leader of Newcastle’s new era, Trippier won the La Liga championship with Atletico Madrid and also participated in the Euro 2020 final with England-his arrival immediately raised the level of the entire team.

After completing winter training from Saudi Arabia, Newcastle played against relegation rival Everton at home on February 8.
In a packed St. James’ Park stadium, Newcastle came from a goal behind and won 3-1.
Trippier declared the perfect end of the game with a wonderful free kick.

Newcastle are out of the relegation zone for the first time since September – and outright.

March: Guimarães debut

Guimaraes’ first start at Newcastle allowed fans to see his value and expect him to continue to start.

After joining the team, Guimarães was indeed "snubbed" by Eddie Howe for a few games, but in the game against Southampton on March 10, the Brazilian midfielder entered the starting list for the first time.
Not only did he score the winner, but he also showed his wide passing range and all-round quality.

It may have taken Eddie Howe a lot of time to get Guimarães to feel on the wing, but when he started to gallop on the wing, it seemed to be his "promised land".

Guimaraes’ performance also played an important role in Newcastle’s success

April: break through the "pass" of 40 points

After back-to-back wins at home to Wolves and Leicester, Newcastle were all but certain they could avoid relegation, but it wasn’t until the April 20 win over Crystal Palace that Eddie Howe breathed a sigh of relief and admitted his team was done"
relegation task".

Against Crystal Palace, their third of four wins in a row this season, Almiron flicked an unstoppable left-footed curl into the far corner following a volley from Guimaraes –
It was also one of his best goals of the year.

At the beginning of 2022, relegation seemed out of reach for Newcastle, but they finally did it. With 5 games left in the league, they have scored 40 points.

May: Beat Arsenal at home

Newcastle Ladies beat Alnwick Town Ladies 4-0 in front of 22,134 spectators on their debut at St James’ Park.
The Newcastle men’s football team also recovered from a 0-5 loss to Manchester City and defeated Arsenal at home, adding to the Gunners’ competition for a Champions League seat.

On May 16, the atmosphere in the stadium was exciting, and they seemed to have a symbiotic relationship with the players on the field. They encouraged and improved each other.
The 2-0 score is actually a "compliment" to Arsenal. Newcastle used this way to show what they wanted to do for the rest of the season.

June: Joining of Portman

After waiting for 4 months, Newcastle finally poached Dan Ashworth from Brighton as the team’s sporting director.
At the same time, Target also officially renewed the contract, and Nick Pope joined at a low price of 11 million pounds.

Newcastle’s pursuit of Portman also had a positive outcome in the final days of June.
Can sign Europe’s most